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Lyon’s famous “Fête des Lumières” is going on this weekend and ending tomorrow. It’s an amazing festival of lights around the city – a true spectacle of art, culture and entertainment that celebrates the city’s history. I went for 5 years (2007-2011) and enjoyed every minute.

Like this:

The annual famous light festival in Lyon, France, Fête des Lumières, takes place this December 6th thru December 9th, 2012.

It is really a FANTASTIC show. The amazing aspect of the spectacle itself varies according to year, but you won’t regret going. You may only regret the crowds. I’ve been the past 5 festivals and the population of Lyon doubles to almost 4 million during the long weekend.

The annual Fête des Lumières in the wonderful city of Lyon, France takes place this weekend. I’ve been the past four years and will be there again this weekend, along with millions of other visitors (in addition to the local Lyon area population of 1.8 million or so).

Lyon is a wonderful city with a rich culture and history as well as modern innovative industries, world class food, museums, parks and architecture, not to mention the host to many events and the site of Interpol. It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as I posted before.

Its most famous event is the annual Fête des Lumières (“Festival of Lights”) which each year attracts an estimated 3 million visitors over a span of 4 days for a magnificent light show. Consider that the population of the Lyon metro area is about 1.7 million, and you realize how big that number is. I’ve been the past couple years and it’s definitely worth it. The only thing annoying is the crowds, but that’s expected. You can see some pictures from last year’s event at BBC. It has its origins when the people of Lyon lit candles to thank the Virgin Mary for saving the city from the black plague. Now it’s since 1999 a modern light show with the main sites of the city the objects of dramatic and sophisticated light animations with colorful lasers, layered digital graphics and world-renown technology. It’s really quite remarkable (the picture above is of this square, Place des Terreaux). You can see a video of the scene here.

You can find more information on the festival’s background here, and the official festival site (available in English) as well. This page has a simple list of main sites to see as well as hours of the shows (notes below). December 8th, 10th, 11th will go from 6pm to 1am, and December 9th from 6pm to midnight.

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